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Norwich City Council has been recognised for its ongoing commitment to providing excellent homelessness services by being awarded ‘gold standard’ status from the National Practitioner Support Service.

Designed to ‘set the bar for homelessness services’, the award is testament to the council’s high quality housing advice, Home Options allocation scheme and support for vulnerable people. The accolade sees the council become one of only 14 Gold Standard homelessness and prevention services in the country.

Achieving the award is the culmination of three years of varied assessment which has included reviews from other councils and the completion of ten local challenges which assessed areas such as partnership working, having a comprehensive homelessness strategy, frontline service delivery and developing a private sector offer for all client groups. 

The teams involved were praised for their commitment to ‘ownership of the customer journey and getting it right first time’ as well as ‘offering a comprehensive advice, prevention and homelessness service’.

By achieving each of the 10 local challenges, the council has been able to demonstrate that it has comprehensive services in place for all clients.

Councillor Gail Harris, Norwich City Council’s cabinet member with responsibility for homelessness and housing allocations, said: “This award is fantastic recognition of the high-quality service being given by our housing and front facing teams, against a backdrop of central government cuts and a nationwide housing shortage.

“Housing matters have huge significance in people’s lives, and there is a great deal of work that goes into preventing homelessness wherever possible and working with partners to help individuals access suitable housing.

“I am very proud that Norwich residents can be confident in the support and advice available from the city council.”

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ABC Note: More information on the NPSS Service’s Gold Standard award can be found at: https://www.npsservice.org.uk/gold-standard

Research has shown children with poor vocabulary at age five are more than twice as likely to be unemployed at age 34 as those with good vocabulary, according to the UK education department.

A “summit” later this year of businesses, charities and tech companies will come up with ideas to “boost parents’ confidence” in teaching their kids reading and speech.

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From September 2017 to December 2017, gross job gains from opening and expanding private sector establishments were 7.8 million. Over this period, gross job losses from closing and contracting private sector establishments were 6.8 million.

The difference between the number of gross job gains and the number of gross job losses yielded a net employment gain of 999,000 jobs during the fourth quarter of 2017.

This report (downloadable below) looks at the state of women's rights in Great Britain in 2018.

It assesses the progress on women's rights since 2013 and makes recommendations to the UK and Welsh governments, in areas including:

• enhancing the status of international human rights in domestic law
• gender-based violence, harassment and abuse
• participation in political and civic life
• access to civil justice
• human trafficking and modern slavery
• detention and asylum
• health, living standards and social security
• work and education

The report has been submitted to the United Nations as part of the Equality and Human Rights Commissions work on monitoring the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the international human rights treaty that focuses specifically on equality between women and men in all areas of life.

Here is what the report said about womes pensions and benefits:

Welfare and tax policy changes made between May 2010 and January 2018 have had a disproportionate adverse impact on women’s, especially ethnic minority women’s, rights to an adequate standard of living and social security.

Our analysis found that in the year 2022, women overall on average stand to lose just under £400 per year from the reforms, whereas men would lose only around £30.

Lone parents, 90% of whom are women, stand to lose the equivalent of up to 25% of their net income.82 ‘Confusion about eligibility for healthcare could ‘Lone parents, 90% of whom are women, stand to impact on health.’ delay access to treatment and have a detrimental lose the equivalent of up to 25% of their net income’

Adequate standard of living and social security 10 Universal Credit was introduced by the UK Government in October 2013, with the stated aim of simplifying the benefits system through consolidating the payments of several benefits into a single payment, which is paid jointly to couples. However, this causes serious concern for women’s economic independence, particularly in situations of domestic abuse.

Other changes to social security entitlements include the introduction of a benefit cap, which particularly affects lone parents, and the two-child tax credit limit, because of which households in Wales and England with three or more children will lose at least £900 per year on average by 2021/22.84 Under the Pensions Act 1995, the state pension age (SPA) for women was to gradually rise to 65 by 2020 to bring it in line with the then current SPA for men.

Subsequent legislation has accelerated these changes and raised the equalised SPA to 66 by October 2020 and 67 by 2028. Some women’s SPA is now several years later than planned for, which may have a significant detrimental impact on their financial wellbeing.

Disabled women, carers and ethnic minority women are likely to be particularly affected.

However, the UK Government has consistently rejected calls to change the equalisation timetable or to provide any financial compensation.

According to the homelessness charity Crisis, in 2017 an estimated 236,000 individuals in GB were homeless, an increase of 33% since 2011.

Evidence suggests that women sleeping rough may be particularly vulnerable. Moreover, in 2013, the UK Government introduced the ‘spare room subsidy’, when tenants have their housing benefits reduced if they have spare bedrooms.

The Supreme Court found in 2016 that this discriminated against disabled people but dismissed the claim of a woman survivor of domestic violence who had a ‘safe room’ in her home.

 The case was appealed to the European Court of Human Rights in January 2018. The lack of residential and transit accommodation across GB routinely affects Gypsy and Traveller women’s right to an adequate standard of living.

ABC Note: The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) is the international human rights treaty that focuses specifically on equality between women and men in all areas of life. It is often referred to as the ‘women’s bill of rights’. The UK ratified CEDAW in 1986.By ratifying the treaty, the UK is committed to taking steps to end discrimination against women in all forms. CEDAW provides the basis for making equality between women and men a reality.

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Forecasters are expecting one of the hottest July days ever recorded in London today. Expect blistering sunshine with temperatures in the capital reaching a sweltering 35C by early afternoon. There’s even half a chance of some explosive thunderstorms later this evening if you’re lucky.

Britain will suffer 7,000 heat-related deaths every year by 2050 if the government does not take decisive action, MPs warn today.

The Commons environmental audit committee says 38C temperatures will be the norm within a couple of decades, according to Met Office forecasts, and want ministers to do more to protect the vulnerable.

Committee Chairwoman Mary Creagh wants a minister appointed to lead on climate change-related health risks, and a new strategy covering home and transport design and public awareness issues.

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Prospective first-time home buyers in London in 2017 could expect to spend 13 times their earnings on property, compared with 5.5 times in the North East.

London was the least affordable region for prospective first-time buyers in 14 of the last 19 years, with the North East the most affordable for 18 of the last 19 years.

Housing became less affordable for those who bought their first house in 78% of local authorities in 2017 compared with the previous year.

Interest rates have been kept low by the European Central Bank and the Bank of England because of the frail economy. People with borrowing power have borrowed almost free money and invested in real assets like property. This has cause a ‘bubble’. There are rumoured to be over 40 000 empty properties in London.

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The Government are closing the following Courts to same money.

Banbury Magistrates� and County Court

Blackfriars Crown Court

Chorley Magistrates� Court

Fleetwood Magistrates� Court (currently sitting as a Family Hearing Centre)

Maidenhead Magistrates� Court

Northallerton Magistrates� Court

Wandsworth County Court 

The Government is investing £1 billion in reforming and modernising courts and tribunals, which has already delivered:

• An online system which enables court staff to prepare case files and access them digitally in a courtroom during a hearing – saving 68 million pages of paper.
• The ability for those convicted of minor motoring offences to make their initial plea online. Some 1500 pleas are dealt with online every week. Court staff and the police automatically receive the completed online plea form as soon as the defendant has submitted it, reducing delays.
• A fully paperless system in conjunction with Transport for London - which means thousands of cases involving fare evasion are dealt with more swiftly and effectively.

In the civil courts people can now:

• Make a small money claim online – with over 3,000 claims issued in the first month, cases moving through more quickly, and user satisfaction over 80% during the pre-launch pilot.
• Apply for a divorce online - which has cut errors in application forms from 40% to less than 1%, saving people time and trouble during a traumatic time.
• Apply for probate online - which has also cut errors, sped up the process, and has a satisfaction rate of more than 90%.

Court buildings are also being improved and as of March 2018 approximately £108m was spent on capital maintenance to improve the existing estate. Approximately £115m has been raised from the sales of surplus buildings to reinvest in the wider reform programme.

ABC Comment: Is closing these Courts a good thing?

Want to find out about part time flexible training options?

DEASP and Cork Springboard Training Providers to host an afternoon Springboard+ Training Expo on Wednesday 25th July 2018 in Cork City

 UCC, CIT, Innopharmalabs and Cork Institute of Technology present

The Department of Employment Affairs and Social P​rotection, in conjunction with local  Springboard Training Providers (namely CIT, UCC, Innopharmalabs and Institute of Technology, Tralee), are hosting a Training Expo in the Department’s Intreo Centre in Abbey Court House, George’s Quay, Cork City.

The Training Expo takes place on Wednesday 25th July 2018 from 1pm to 4pm.

The Springboard+ up-skilling programmes are aligned to the top up-skilling needs of manufacturing, engineering, pharma and biopharma sectors. All programmes are part-time (often using blended methods) to facilitate those in full-time employment.   

This is an opportunity to meet with local training providers to discuss the range of course options available and to hear about the subsequent career prospects.  

To register for this event please log onto: https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/springboard-expo-tickets-46991878975.   

Further queries about the event can be directed to DEASP Abbey Court House at: 021 4805445.

ABC Note: For more information on Springboard+, please see here: https://springboardcourses.ie/​

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From the Executive Summary:

The post-crisis decade has brought a renewed focus on living standards, inequality and poverty – and on the effectiveness of policy in supporting income growth.

Ten years on from the global financial crisis, the nature of Britain’s economy – and the way growth feeds through to the incomes of its citizens – appear much changed. While the country avoided what was for a time the very real threat of a collapse of its financial system, it continues to suffer from an unprecedented stagnation in productivity growth that undermines the strength of the economy’s recovery. And the government’s finances remain under pressure too.

The annual deficit has returned to its pre-crisis level, but the UK’s debt-to-GDP ratio is still more than twice its previous level. These shifts have prompted an ever-sharper focus on the living standards of the UK’s 34 million families.

Post-crisis falls at the top of the income distribution have been replaced by relatively modest recovery. In direct contrast, households at the bottom of the income distribution have seen some immediate post-crisis protection replaced by a policy of benefit cuts in the name of fiscal consolidation.

With income growth disappointing for such a large share of the income distribution however, existing issues of inequality and poverty have come to gain more and more traction in our political debate.

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ABC Note: The Living Standards Audit 2018 can be downloaded below:

The structure of European societies changed dramatically after the Second World War when economies boomed on the back of a shift from industry towards service-oriented activities.

New white-collar and professional jobs emerged, dissolving the rigidities of the old class structure. Mass education provided a skilled workforce, meaning that people drawn from all strata of society could, potentially at least, occupy these jobs. Equal opportunities for all became a fundamental principle of democratic societies – backed up by the principles of equal access to education and the jobs market.

It seems, however, that social structures are hardening again. As the modernisation of economies subsides, fewer new jobs are being created at the higher occupational levels, and this is curtailing upward mobility. Looking at three generations born in the 20th century – the silent generation (born 1927–1945), the baby boomers (born 1946–1964) and Generation X (born 1965–1975) – Eurofound researchers found that the most recent of the three was the least mobile and that social background continues to have a profound effect on life chances.

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ABC Comment: Eurofound Living and Working in Europe 2017 can be downloaded below: